Rei
by Kirbilius Clausius
Summary: Evangelion Crossover. Was one shot. Now though up a plot for a longer arc. Might see where it goes. Reformatted.
1. Chapter 1

Rei Ayanami-

Nothing strange ever happens here.

Like all the adults, I work for the highly classified anti-angel world defense agency NERV. "God is in his heaven, and all is right with the world."

The only difference is that I'm not an adult.

I have to go to school today. The steady banging wakes me. I must have had a nosebleed in the night again. I leave the repeatedly stained pillow. I go through the exact ritual I've completed 2,487 times-disrobing, showering (though not as throroughly as when after I'm bathed in the blood smelling womb), dressing again in an identical blue jumper. Grabbing my briefcase, I head out into the same season it always is and off to school.

It's when I'm halfway there when I notice her. Not her exactly, mostly the traffic commotion she's causing with her reckless piloting of her Vespa.

Haru Haru Haroku san-

That blue haired girl standing in the road looks really peaceful. I wonder if she'll look that at peace when she's dead.

Augh! This Vespa isn't made for swerving out of the way of idiots who can't drive on the side of the road I'm not on at the time.

Hey, where'd that blue haired girl go?

Rei Ayanami-

Haru Haru Haroku san is new to Tokyo-3. She just piloted that very vehicle into town. She's here to search for the Pirate King. She won't find him here, or at least not yet according to what I understand of the remarks I overhear between the Commander and Dr. RitsukoMore to the point, I won't be able to help her.

She's spotted me. She's decided that I can help her. I'll have to dissuade her.

Haru Haru Haroku san-

There's the girl again. If she was there and she's here, then she must be REALLY good at space time warping. She may have a head I can use.

I hop onto the back seat. Ready the weapon with a swift yank on the ripcord. Ready. Steady. And swiiiingggg...

Rei Ayanami-

I step to the side of her Vespa that is oppositte the guitar in her current stance.

She doesn't seem to care that she was standing on the seat or driving on the sidewalk until she swings the guitar and hits nothing but air. Then she, her guitar and the scooter end up tackling and retackling each other as they roll down the sidewalk in one clump.

By the time my normal stride has let me reach her, she's nearly resting on the hot concrete. She looks at me with an expression I've seen before. But it is not one of the defaults I have seen on others. Is it smug?

"I cannot help you in your quest.", I tell her simply. I dislike taking the time to dissuade her, but if I do not I will waste even more time avoiding her attacks in the future. She doesn't seem to be the type of person that will interpret my dodging her blow as a lack of permission to strike me.

I step over her and continue on my way.

Haru Haru Haruko san-

Jeez, what a doll. I bet they couldn't make a more bland soul holding biobot if they tried.

Yeah, being an alien, I've seen all sorts of wierd gadgets madmen use to hold their dead wives souls away from the Almighty. She's not the strangest. But considering the backwater place I'm driving around, I bet she thinks she is.

Then again:If she's the peak of technology, she can probably point me to Medical Mechanica. I mean, who else on this rock would be able to build her?

"Hey, blue hair!", I call out. She looks at me as if she's lowering her absolute terror barrier to get some extra info on me. It's cool. I got no secrets...that I can't choke her to death for knowing.

"You see a giant iron any where? Maybe disguised as a medical factory or a mine or a toy store or something?"

Rei Ayanami-

"No.", I tell her. Seeing that she has nothing more to ask. I continue on my way.

She understands that I, despite my uniqueness, am not alone in the universe. I think it is...sad. Sad that I don't care to stop and ask her about the others.

When I get to school, I walk to my class. When I get to my class, I walk to my seat. When I get to my seat, I sit down and stare out the window.

The others tell each other that I am wierd for not joining them. Hikari is yelling at a student for a potential infraction that the teacher wouldn't enforce anyway. Suzahara is bragging to Kunoske about pretending to be unconscious when Haruko san ran into him on her Vespa to steal a kiss.

At least nothing strange ever happens here.


	2. Seele Meeting

Gendo Ikari-

The Seele committee meeting was just starting. Gendo Ikari was seated at his desk in his office at Nerv. The other members were holographical projected around an invisible table. To help with the illusion, the lights in everyone's offices were off no matter where they actually were.

"You let the only known potential pilot of an Evangelion be attacked.", the member with a visor on his face scolded. "Why do you think you have a section two?"

Gendo kept his hands folded in front of his mouth. His glasses shone from the light of the surrounding holograms. It gave him a disturbing poker face.

"The first child was not in any danger. Section two spotted the disturbance and had the interloper and her weapon in sniper sights the entire time. If a blow would have connected, she would have been brought down with heavy fire power before it could."

"Then why didn't they shoot her?", another committee member asked. "Why risk the girl? After all the work that was put into producing her?"

"To introduce instability to her environment.", Commander Ikari informed them. "Pilot Ayanami has grown up not in a neighborhood but within the confines of a very zealous and meticulous organization. Nearly everything about her life, including experiments on her improvisational skills, are planned out in detail. This...attack was not. I believed the situation was under control so I allowed it to happen"

"But there is a larger issue here, gentlemen.", he warned. "And that is your failure, sir."

The beak nosed Seele official squirmed. "Excuse me!"

"I refuse to.", the Commander told him. "Section two noted that what appeared to be the assailant's Vespa was traveling much much faster than any Vespa is capable of. If the technology used to build it was any that we are familiar with."

"Nerv's duties are too defend against the Angels. We are nearly ready to demonstrate Unit 01's abilities.", he continued. "But your agency, whose sole purpose is to monitor extraterrestrial criminals has not only spawned one but allowed her to come unhindered to Tokyo-3"

The Seele member in question looked to other members for support. He found none. "Well, you see, Medical Mechanica has managed to capture the Pirate King Atomsk and/"

"I don't care about excuses.", Gendo told him. "I care about this wild card in the same city where potential Eva pilots are living. Don't take my endorsement for a little...excitement to be a desire for too much of a good thing."

The beak nosed Seele member adjusted his glasses. "You're right. I will have an agent there right away."

"You'd better.", Ikari told him. "Nothing strange ever happens here." 


	3. Investigation

Amoroa- 

"Tokyo-3 is a testament to what adulthood should be. Hard work. Structured. Complex.

"I approve.

"I am Special Agent Amoroa. I've been assigned by the Interstellar Immigration Bureau to investigate the assault against you yesterday."

Rei-

I do not understand why I was pulled from class for this. If this person wishes to investigate, should he not interview Section 2? After all, they pay much more attention to me than I do.

Furthermore, he tries to speak from an authority he does not show. Why does he not display this? He has the uniform. He has the intimidating sunglasses. He barks his words. Ah, I understand.

"You don't have mature eyebrows.", I tell him.

Amoroa-

"What? Oh, come on. I look plenty mature."

The obviously mature adult takes off his sunglasses and studies his reflection.

"Are you sure? Are you absolutely certain? I mean, I got my hair cut in the most mature manner possible. The salon's top stylist told me so! And she's the top stylist, you know? And look at my mature expression. Do my eyebrows really mean that much to you?"

Rei-

I envision Commander Ikari in my mind. He has glasses like this man. A short scruffy covering of hair on his head. And thick eyebrows unlike this man.

"Yes.", I tell him.

"However, if you need help with your appearance, I cannot provide that assistance. I apologize for wasting your time."

I get up to leave.

Amoroa-

The obviously grown up man reasserts his natural authority.

"Wait a moment, young miss."

"I still have to ask you about your assailent."

The young school girl, swept away by the powerful mistique of this mature man stares blankly at him. The full scope of her instantaneous immature crush on this adult catches her by surprise, leaving her face absolutely expresssionless. Her blue hair framing that blank look, hoping to mask her hopeless reaction.

"She piloted an Vespa, obvious by its performance:altered. She wore a red long coat, a white scarf ann brown riding pants with boots. She had pink hair, yellow eyes and a complexion consistent with the rest of the populace of Japan. Is that all, Special Agent Amoroa?", she tells the man that has swept her off her feet.

"There is one further question I have, young miss."

Tougi-

"Furi Kuri? Damn, Ayanami. I knew you were out there but I thought it was the whole Nerv thing you were doing. I've never heard of any Furi Kuri?", I told her.

I tried to get back to shooting hoops.

"So you have no idea what that means?", she continues on. Didn't I just tell her that?

Kensuke-

Her blue hair twinkles with the sun. Her red eyes show a secret curiousity that only she knows. Her porcelain features catch the veiwers eye and holds it eternally.

"Excuse me, Aida. May I have a word with you?", she asks the audience. The camera loves her and prosperity will too.

"Sure, Rei...I mean Ayanami. Whatcha need?", the narrator voices over. Yes, it removes the fourth wall a little but it adds that sence of realism.

She looks blankly at the audience. Then she stares past the audience, as if talking to someone slightly further than the camera. She asks her question.

"Gee Ayanami. I've never heard of FLCL before. It must be some secret government weapon to be used on some alien battlefront with the ulti...

Hikari-

"Wow, Rei.", I start. As class president, I have to really pay attention to all the concerns of all the students. But with Rei working for Nerv, and the way she acts, it is always a challenge to meet her needs.

"I have no idea why he asked you about fooly cooly.", I tell her. "I don't even know what fooly cooly means. It sounds American. I'm really sorry, Rei."


	4. At first sight

Rei Ayanami-

Nothing strange happens here.

I walked home from school. I had no summons to aid in making my weapon ambulatory. I had no outstanding assignments from the teacher. I had no plans that were pressing.

I had nothing.

I kept a brisk pace, as I was apt to do.

Then there were the fat notes of a guitar. They enticed but were obviously entrapment.

"Learn anything today, Blue?", she asked. She inhumanly kept one foot on the ground and the other on the handle bars of her Vespa. The guitar held as if she was posing with a rifle for an action movie. I stood in my short sleeve and leg baring jumper while she kept her scarf wrapped around her neck lest the non-existant cold creep under her sturdy coat. She plucks a few more lazy sounds.

"I have not learned how to help you.", I replied. "That is why you ask."

"That's a very adult answer, Ms. Ayanami.", the man interjected. He sits on a small motorbike as if he was the Marolbow Man atop a Kliesdale. His uniform jacket pushed back as if it was blown that way by a rough wind. His eyebrows, even if they are artificial, help him cultivate the grown up look he longed for.

"And as a very mature person...", he continued. "You can see she is."

And he used that word again. I turned to her. She chose to notice him for the first time. She is what he accused her of. That word. Its...

"You tell a girl that and call yourself a gentleman?", she asked. "Ironic, ain't it, Chief?"

"I say things as clearly as I can.", he counters. "Part of being responsible is being responsible to reality. Truth is always appreciated."

"Proof by counter-example, Chief.", she cooly replies. Her furry scarf wafted in a rare breeze and she tightened the strings on her weapon.

She returned her low, slinky gaze to me. "Wanna fill your head with somethin' they don't have in that school?"

I shook my head once. "I'm not the type of person to overflow."

One of his eyebrows jumps up his forehead.

"I guess you're right, doll.", she said. "You don't show the right stuff on the outside because it hasn't been put in you yet."

"Him on the otherhand. He's got it in spades. But he's been building his ladder out of Never Never land so hard he can't see the ground anymore."

"I think you're going to have to come with me to answer some questions.", he told her.

"I think you're gonna have to find a girl friend.", she countered absent mindedly. "Tell you what, Chief. Plea bargain."

"What?", he asked.

"Well, I would say we can cut a deal.", she informed. "But when people like me get approached by people like you and cut a deal, I think it's called a plea bargain. I get to walk for some time. Let's say about..."

I didn't know that word could be used to denote time.

"And I get to take a swipe at you with this.", she told him. She brandished her weapon, again and again. Every time it fell into her hands it hummed a thick twang.

"In exchange, I'll be a good little criminal and inform on everything. And I'll be your giiiirl friiieeend.", she nearly sung. "What do ya say, Chief? Can't be all grown up and not have fallen in love."

He kept telling me that I was 'mature'. That I was 'grown up'. I had never fallen in love. Was he more ignorant that I had given him credit for?

"Hey, Blue.", she warned. "Maybe you wanna step out of the way for this next part. Your little suits and sunglass buddies might not take kindly to what comes next if you're involved."

Rahurahu Raharu-san

And kicking off the bike I go! I swing it around me, cause sometimes you just gotta swing the bat. On the second swing, I yank on the rip cord and it burns into life. Ready to party, that's what it is.

Fight! For your right! TO PAAAAAAARRRRR-tay!

I connect with dopey head on. That's funny-'head on'. I knock him from under his dollar store eyebrows and into the middle of the street. It was quiet a minute ago, but noooooo. Now it has to be full of traffic that's swerving and crashing just to avoid little Mr. I'm an Adult.

Losers!

But maybe, if he hadn't forgotten everything like a moron, if he didn't waste away completely and this dope was just a shell for what he once was, then and only then would he be something useful. Like that pair of jeans that got you called 'no-ass' but when you dug to the bottom of your closet after the third box of ice cream and blew the dust off they felt really nice?

In the trailer on the set-

Raharu:Why'd you have to twirl so many times? They get you got hit hard.

Amaroa:Hey, I do my own stunts. You should be lucky to find a guy that can twirl in one place (and mid-air mind you) ever again.

Rei:Stop riding his bolony pony! You know we aren't supposed to be in script format.

Amaroa-

The wisened adult calmly listened to the offer of the mysterious femme fatalle. He carefully considered all the possible outcomes and consequences, as that is what a wisened adult would do. Particularly one with such manly eyebrows as him.

Only upon affirming his complete command of the situation did he allow the woman (who was completely under his control) to go through with her end of his bargain. Any appearances to the contrary were merely due to...uh...his hero mystique.


	5. The one where things get a little silly

Amarao-

The stoic adult only saw an unfamiliar ceiling. As was expected of a fallen soldier in his manly ways, once injured and taken off the battlefield, he grimaced through his wounds and didn't cry out. No matter how itchy the bandage wrapped around his head was.

The nurse dutifully checked the clip board at point blank range, going about her duties out of the corner of the adult's eyes. "FLIctonic KLIpple Waver Syndrom.", she announced.

"FLI", the full grown patient started. "KLI?"

"It's a hardening of the head into a horn.", she informed in a much more familiar voice. "It's caused by special agents acting above their age instead of like the good little boys they are."

"But don't worry.", she commanded. "I'm gonna make it all better."

Haru Haru Haruko-

Damned if this fool didn't manage to dodge the guitar. Kinda funny how the nervous NERV nurse never saw the the shrapnel of the hospital bed coming her way. Tied up in the corner in her underwear because where else would I have gotten this outfit?

Anyway, he actually managed to pull a pistol out of that hospital gown. Wonder where he hid that. And on top of that, he had the business end pressed into my left eyeball. I had barely managed to get the surgery scalpel to his jugular with my right hand.

"He who conquers the left side, conquers the world.", he says in triumph. Like he's won something.

I like his lack of eyebrows.

"I like your lack of eyebrows, Chief.", I tell him. "Now you look all innocent and vulnerable like you really are. Not that fake show off that was out on the street."

"How did you get away from Section 2?", he asks.

Oh, that.

Haru Haru Haruko (earlier)-

I had just batted him into the street when it started raining men. Halelujah. It was raining men.

One of the suits rushed me on the side walk. I tucked the body of the guitar behind my left side while stepping forward with my right. "Watch out, she's going to use the Hiten Mitsurugi's ultimate attack. The Hiten Mitsurugi Ama Kakeru Ryuno Hirakameki!", shouted a character from the sidelines. Accelerating my weapon by stepping forward with my left foot (against the conventions of baottogitsu), I used my god like speed to knock his weapon away on the first swing which sucked his body in by air pressure for connection on the second swing. The suit was thrown into the air by the blow of my reverse blade...guitar.

Then suits started rushing in from all directions. I planted the thick end of my weapon on the ground and swung perpendicular to the ground. I kicked suits away as if running on them in a circle, with my super trendy shaded goggles glinting in the sun and pitch black trench coat billowing out behind me. "Ms. Raharu. Surprised to see me?", asked one of the suits that looked like all the others.

But I had to get busy, onna count of the toothpick in my mouth was losing its flavor. So I bit down hard and started blasting. White doves were everywhere, but that didn't distract me. The car I was standing next to blew up. The sidewalk I was standing on bristled in sparks. The nearest lamp post was chewed by the hail of bullets. I might have gotten a little dusty.

"I don't care how legendary an outlaw you are.", another of the suits yelled while gunning at me. "I'm gonna get the $$60,000,000,000 bounty!" I had to track this guy's motions to dodge his bullets. Lucky my full length blood red coat didn't get any holes in it.

Amaroa (now)-

"Stop making things up!", the adult yelled at her. While it may appear to the outside observer that the two were stuck in a stalemate, both unable to leave or call for help, it was not the case. The adult had everything well under control. Honest.

"How would you know, chief?", she asked the man. "As soon as you got yours, blue carried you off."

"So she's safe?", the man stated as fact. Without his sexy glasses or manly eyebrows, it may have looked like he was uncomfortably curious, but that was just a ploy to uh...lure in the enemy. Yeah.

"Concerned about the doll, huh?", she replies. "I know just what a cute little alien in a too tight nurse outfit can do to take your mind off her."

Then she lent in to kiss him. On the lips, like an adult recieves a kiss.

Gendo-

The hologram of the alien kissing the agent sent to stop her hung accusingly in the air. Commander Ikari sat behind his desk with Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki at his shoulder. Fuyutuski did the talking (a.k.a. scolding) of the special agent.

"What is your job!", he demanded.

"Working for Immigration...", started Amaroa.

"Wrong!", Fuyutski told him. "Your job is to stop space criminals! It is not to make gross spectacles of oneself in Nerv hospital beds in intimate acts with those criminals."

"Actually Sub-Commander, this is all part of my plan.", Amaroa bluffed.

"Explain.", Gendo commanded.

"You had me summoned to prevent Haruko from damaging the First Child.", he started. After recieving a nod, "While I have been present, your pilot has not been harmed. Even though Section 2 has recieved several casualties in their vain attempt to stand in her way. I have the situation well in hand. Though, I do recommend you authorize me to run Ayanami's security as I see fit."

"I on the other hand, need to get ready for my date."


	6. Date

Haruko-

Dammit! I can't find anything to wear in this store. I would go somewhere else, but this is Tokyo-3. Meaning it's not the grew up over the centuries, another treasure around every corner Tokyo. Everything here is by the numbers boring and every shop was built the same way at the same time with the same stuff.

She's wearing something I could go with. I pull her outfit from the rack.

"Excuse me.", I begin. "Does this make me look as slutty as you look in it? Because I'm trying to go for that debase myself for pocket change despite being a hair too fat look."

Her glare tells me what her answer is.

I grab another outfit. It's what her daughter is wearing.

"How about this? It adds a touch of daddy's not so little girl to the mix."

Amaroa-

The adult is calm, cool and collected as he assesses himself.

"Do you think I should wear the eyebrows?", he declares. "Because she said she doesn't like the eyebrows. But you like the eyebrows. You said so. I don't want to offend her. I/"

"Do you even care?", the blue haired child asks the adult. "I was led to believe that you only agreed to this 'date' to perform your duties. If so, why should you effect anything but your uniform?"

The child couldn't understand adult things, obviously.

Aida-

"Suzahara, hold my hand!", the love interest sublty flirts with the lead. The lead playfully gives her an intimidated look and grants her request.

Time for the bold line that will sit in the audience' memory for years to come. "I know we're on a field trip, but aren't we a little old for the buddy system, Class Rep?"

The audience' heart melts. The pristine surroundings of the museum lends the scene a quiet dignity. Antique acoustic instruments sit hinting of times of old under presentations of the artists rumored to use them.

Just in time, the relief comes in. A pink haired, yellow eyed wild card drags a cop after her.

"Wow, with this you can be BUH.", she tells the cop.

"Suzahara, hold my hand!", the love interest charmingly hints in the background.

"What do you mean, buh?", the cop asks with an assumed stereotypical adult voice.

The wild card hoists a grand piano into the air with one hand. She rips off the lid that shatters on the floor. Her free hand picks at the strings inside. The choreography of the scene is neccessarily hectic.

"Like Bach.", she declares. The piano pounds out an amalgamated note, symbolizing her complexity.

"Like Brahms.", she continues. The strength of her character is aligned with the strength of the instrument, allowing critics an easy analogy to add to their reviews of the story.

"Like Beetoven.", she adds. A couple of the strings rip as she continues to pull on them.

"Suzahara, hold my hand!", the love interest insinuates demurely.

"Rock me, Amadeus!", screams the scene stealer.

Then the piano calls for a bullet-time effect as it splinters into a billion shards. Keys bounce off the floor while piano wire whips around the room. The cop is obscured, despite his forehead being the cause of the chaos.

The wild card clenches what little is left of the piano in her hands as the cop sails across the room. She looks at the metal braclet she wore on stage. Noting her bangle doesn't jangle, she tosses the scraps of wood to a speechless tour guide. "Grand piano no good.", she laments sullenly.

"Suzahara, hold my hand!", the love interest suggests as her hands softly wrap around the lead's neck with passionate strength.

MUSICAL NUMBER-

Haruko and Amorao bob their heads in time in the back of a cab.

"Hey Amoroa?" "Yeah Haruko?"

"I just wanna let you do all sorts of things" "Sorts of things"

"Like the things that leave you tingling" "Tingling"

"But I need just one little favor" "How little?"

"And then I can let you in on all this juicy flavor!"

Amorao turns to Haruko.

"Well that sounds like a pretty sweet deal." "Super sweet."

"It sounds like it has lots of appeal." "It'll make a man complete."

"An adult needs to be in love at least once in his life."

"I'm offering sex, not to be your wife."

Haruko and Amoroa glare at each other, stick their tongues out while pulling the bottom lid away from their eyes, before continuing on.

"All I need is an oppurtun-i-ty." "I can afford a hotel room."

"With a little doll-to-be." "Your fangs would make a blow up doll go boom."

"You let me hit blue hair over the head, to make up for your noggin being dead, and I'll let you take me to bed."

Haruko shrugs. "Or a dirty booth in the shadows of a back alley bar. If that's what you're into."

Amoroa smiles at Haruko stupidly.

"That little girl's dress is really cute." "Why, thank you."

"And my intentions want to follow suit." "I'm sure."

"And all I have to do is lose my job, change my name to Joe Jack Bob. Because if you touch Ayanami, Gendo will turn me into a molten blob."

Haruko wraps herself around Amoroa in a way that only her species could manage.

"You know that you want to want me." "I do."

"You know that you would love to love me." "I do."

"You know that you would hate to hate me." "I do."

"So come on now, one little favor and you get all the fun and none of the work if you date me."

"I do, I do, I do, I do, I do/" "I'm not marrying you, just sex, remember?"

Amaroa nods drunkenly while Haruko sticks a tongue thick enough for a cow between her fangs and licks his face.

"So, my darling what's your plan? I may be game, but Section Two thinks it's Action Man."

"Just let me worry about them. They couldn't stop me before when my guitar went BLAM."

"And then we'll do all sorts of adult things, mature things together."

"If you like feeling grown up, that you won't have ever felt better."

"Because" "Because" Haruko and Amoroa agree.

"Selling out is never done to the letter. Betraying a little girl's trust is easy enough if you set her up without remorse or fetter."

"Yes!", the conclude as the pair makes out.

Back in the set trailer-

Haruko sits on Amoroa's lap.

Haruko:Do you think they get that I seduced you into selling out Ayanami?

Amorao:Who cares? I'm not getting paid either way, it's a fan fic.

Haruko:What's a fan fic?

Amorao:It's when some geek that doesn't have a life s/

Ayanami:I told you we're not supposed to be in script format!


	7. Calm Before the Storm

Gendo-

The commander of Nerv kept his stoic visage on at all times. Much to the charinge of his latest paramour Ritsuko Ikagi. This was the first day she was ever thankful for that. Because the enemy detected alarm just blared in his office.

Gendo Ikari and Dr. Ritsuko Ikagi nearly seeped out of the cracks in the wall with complete professionalism. "Report.", the commander called out.

Maya turned her head toward him. "AT field detected! Inside Tokyo-3 city limits. Search narrowing, but most equipment is still being fine tuned before clearing final inspections."

Makoto spoke next. "Unit 00 and 01 have yet to be attuned to pilots. Unit 00 has been calibrated for Rei. Pilot Ayanami still has yet to report in."

Maya's eyes widened. "Oh, no! AT field location triangulated. It's inside Rei's apartment buidling. The Angels have returned and they're launching a pre-emptive strike against our only pilot!"

Aoba nodded under his headset. "Section two's field units guarding Rei cannot be reached."

"Get contact back!", sub-commander Fuyuski yelled.

Ritsuko's eyes flash. "Lt. Ibuki, what's the reading on the field?"

Maya's hands had been flying over his circuit board. "Corresponding test data doesn't seem to exist. I've been trying to recallobrate the database to match our readings/"

Ritsuko snapped at him. "Red or blue, Ms. Ibuki."

Maya sped up. Everyone in the command center held a breath.

"Niether.", she told her. "It's some new color I've never seen before."

The main hologram space changed. The tactical layout of the surrounding terrain was replaced with an electronic blink. The new color was displayed along with 801, Nerv's code for 'unidentifiable phenomenon".

"It's fully cully!", Aoba yelled.

Maya turned to him. "I think you mispronounced that."

"You see, this is why we need an operations director.", Gendo told Fuyutski quietly.

Amoroa(minutes earlier)-

Special Agent Amoroa and Pilot Rei Ayanami sat quietly on her bed. They had been like this for hours. Waiting. Letting the day's light drift over them. The everpresent glass of water adding a sense of tranquility that neither really felt.

"Are you sure you want to do this?", Rei asked him.

"Would you rather I not?", Amoroa asked.

Rei regarded him a moment. "Yes. But I understand why. I would like to believe I would do the same in your place."

Amora smiled at her. "Thank you. I don't know if you know how much this means to me. I certainly don't."

Rei nodded. "I...hope we will find out. Both of us."


	8. Fly on Shooting Eyebrows

Amoroa-

When the sounds of gunfire erupted there was no adult. No perfectly calm authority figure poised for leadership and heroism ready to carry the day. No assuring, fatherly figure to make the day go fine.

Gunfire was the first sound to override the constant banging of the neighborhood. This was followed by the sound of a combustion engine's ripcord dragging it to life. The solid thwacks and twangs of a combat guitar taking its toll on the surrounding Section Two forces.

She's coming for the girl. I look at Rei. Her red eyes are emotionless. Her face not so much relaxed as...there's a word to use that isn't rigor mortis.

I nod. "It's time."

Rei hesitates. "What will I tell our superiors when they find your corpse?"

I smile. "Tell them that I was doing my job."

I pull the bandage from around my head. She plunges both of her hands into my head. And they reach somewhere else.

Haruko-

Happy days are here again. The humans guarding their precious biobot couldn't stand against me. The fool won't stand in my way because he wants me. I'll have Blue all to myself. And I know exactly what...

Why is my bangle jingling? Damn.

I race up the stairs on the outside of this dilapidated apartment building. I use my weapon to blast Blue's door off its hinges.

"So you can do it for her, but not for me!", I scream. Inside the apartment, Chief is on his hands and knees. Blue's holding two large fake eyebrows that are glowing red. She presses them to his forehead.

With a cocky grin, made even cockier by his new weapons, he doesn't answer me. He only attacks.

Lessons-

Haruko is dressed as a school marm. She stands at a chalk board, looking as nerdy as she can manage with oversized glasses and chalk. Amoroa wears the standard school uniform of the Tokyo-3 School district.

"Today we learn about adulthood, class.", Haruko says to her lone student.

"What can you teach me about adulthood?", Amoroa asks his teacher.

"How much fun it is!", she replies. "You get to do what you want. Affect the world. Tell kids what to do. Freedom and power and riches is what adulthood is."

Amoroa frowns. "I disagree. Adulthood is only responsibility. Taking care of everyone else. Otherwise won't we all always be children?"

"See,? That's why you need me to teach you.", his teacher tells him. "You'll never have a good time with that line of thought."

"'He had a good time' isn't what I want on my gravestone.", he objects. "Children want. Anything that excites their greed is neccessary. Whatever activates their jealousy isn't fair. Consequences, the future...all for someone else to decide."

He pauses. Nods. "That's what SEELE actually is. It's not a semi-secret cabal of world wide extra U.N. jurisdictional agencies."

"Nerv-'God is in his heaven, and all is right with the world.'"

"Interstellar Immigration Bureau-'Welcome those who walk as men.'"

"All of us. We're taking responsiblity for ourselves. We don't need God to tell us what reality is. We don't need aliens to come down from the heavens and command our fates. We need to step to the plate."

"Teacher.", Amoroa continues. "Is that why you failed? Did you get out of training to be an agent and have no one left to take care of you but you? You met Atomsk when he was arrested by us-did he promise to take care of you? Is that what you're really doing? Running back to him as a child tries to cower in their mother's skirts. Even though he's cast you aside as soon as he escaped. And now that Medical Mechanica is using his theiving power for a much more sinister plot, you're not trying to rescue him as if was innocent. You're not trying to save the world from Medical Mechanica. You're not even trying to make up for your own sins and betrayals. You're augmenting them. You're...spoiled?"

Fight-

"Liar!", Haruko screamed. Her guitar banged against his eyebrows. "I'll show you!"

Amoroa nodded his head slightly, as if to listen very closely but aligning one against the incoming weapon. "Show me what?"

Haruko roared...in futility. Haruko swooned...half heartedly. She knew she could kill him...not in her heart of hearts, or in an academic sence, or with some gut instinct, or any reason really. She was a winner. She was going to get what she wanted.

"I'm wasting my time here.", she told him. The alien whistled. Her conveyance appeared from a cloud of road dust. Her pink hair wafted. Her yellow eyes glinted with their slitted pupils. Her fangs overhung her smile.

He knew what overcompensating for a lack of maturity looked like. He practiced the expression in the mirror often enough.

"So long, chief."

Rei-

The girl runs down to what's left of the block the fight ended on. She is not out of breath as if she were designed for combat. When she arrives the officer turns to her.

"Don't call me an adult.", he tells her. "Then I might stop trying too hard."

She manages to catch him before he hits the strewn rubble. The glow faded from his eyebrows. And by the time they touch the ground, they're only symbolic. And decorative. Most decorative.


	9. Alien Instrumentality

Case Number:85146984964313

Haruhara Haruko

The last Child

"Who are you calling last?", she asks defiantly from her folding chair. She's still dressed for a race through the 1920s on motorbike through the countryside. Even if it is just pitch black around her.

**WHY DIDN'T YOU LOVE HIM?**

"Wow, that's really blind of you.", she declares. "It's obvious from the start I loved Atomsk."

**WHY DIDN'T YOU LOVE HIM?**

"I did love him. I don't care what Chief or Takkun or Canti or anybody says! I love him!"

**WHY DIDN'T YOU LOVE HIM?**

"Who are you to judge me?", the alien calls out to the darkness.

"What are you, my father?", Ninamori asks when a spotlight hits her. "You're not fit to judge me. I'm a nuevo-riche princess."

**WHY DIDN'T YOU LOVE HIM?**

"What is love anyway? How can anything be the correct answer to that trick question.", she counters snarkily.

Mamimi is illuminated by another spotlight in a different oasis from the darkness. "Takkun. I wanna leave my mark on you."

**WHY DIDN'T YOU LOVE HIM?**

"Oh, him you mean.", Haruhara nods understanding. "I just didn't care."

**WHY DIDN'T YOU LOVE HIM?**

"I just told you."

**WHY DIDN'T YOU LOVE HIM?**

"Because then I'd have to take care of him, alright?!", she screams. "I wanted Atomsk to take care of me. So I used everyone. I used Takkun and Chief and everyone to get to Atomsk. I didn't want to take care of anyone.

Because I wanted to be taken care of. And I know how much would have to be done to take care of me. Filling that void in someone else, I couldn't bear it. It's so large, so painful. The pain of being alone. The pain of apathy. I never wanted to be responsible for such an unmatchable job."

**SO HE WAS RIGHT.**

She half squints, half glares at nothing now that she's 'alone' again. "Yeah, so what? I'm just like everyone else. Covering my own desires with a pretext of nobility. Hiding behind my absolute terror field by the porcupine's dilema. For all my flaws, I knew what I was doing when I did it."

Haruhara appears beside her in pajamas and bare feet. "And that's why I made him feel so good. Why I had that kind of relationship with him. It's not like he got nothing out of the deal. I mean, he wouldn't have to be roofies for another couple years after the sleeping bag."

Haruko appears in a maid's uniform. "That's right. I took good care of him."

The alien appears again, this time in a nurse's garb facing the seated one. "I made him feel aaaaallll better."

She faces upwards in her chair. "That is not what I meant."

Amoroa walks into her spot of light. He wears his full uniform and drags a square steel chair with him directly out of a noir detective film. He sits down. He stares at her.

"So what did you mean?"

Haruko scoffs at him. "Oh, don't you give me that. You got exactly what you wanted from me. You got to play the hero-saving Blue, Takkun and every other human I tried to...recruit. I'm not going to feel bad about decieving any of you when none of you ever told me the truth."

Naota appears, a baseball cap forcing his gaze to the ground. "I thought...we were special. I mean...you said I saw you first."

Rei appears, bland as ever in a school uniform. "I won't be able to help you on your quest."

Haruko turns back to Amoroa when he starts singing. "I do, I do, I do, I do"

She grimaces in disdain. "I'm not the bad guy!"

Atomsk comforts her by laying the tiniest portion of his hand on her shoulder, assuring her that that's not the point.

"And what about you!" she demands. "Like I should ask forgiveness for my betrayals after yours!"

**BETRAYALS?**

"Yes, betrayals.", she finally admits. "I turned on IIS. I turned on Takkun, his father, Amoroa, my commanders, Seele/"

**BETRAYALS?**

"Yes, I said.", she calls out.

**BETRAYALS?**

"And I betrayed myself.", she realizes. "I wanted. But I hid my wanting under rebellion. Devoted myself to an obsession in defeat of my desires. I just wanted to be loved and I passed everyone who could love me by. Chasing the dragon burned me out."

"I already told you, I don't like the sour kind!", Naota whines.

"That's the best you got?", she asks. "Kid just bitches about taste instead of taking it like a man?"

"I don't care if it's New York style, I don't like spicy!", Naota whines.

"I have desires and instead of admitting my own wants to myself I attacked everyone around me.", Haruko states sullenly.

"But that means that I am me. Not the me I threw off into everyone else' mind but the me that is, indeed, me. That I have my own wants. I want to be loved. By other people and by myself, or I wouldn't have lied to others. I want to show the true me, with all the selfishness and not have that judged as wrong. I need other people even if they don't need me and only want what I can trick them into being."

"I have no shame. And I'm not going to have any anymore."

The darkness rips away. She's lifted into the air, a few feet above a pitcher's mound. She looks down at her teammates.

Naota smiles at her while holding her foot up. "Congradulations."

Amoroa smiles at her while taking more of her weight on his shoulder. "Congradulations."

Atomsk somehow fits between her and the ground.

_To my mother-I've always hated you_

_To my father-What has been said of you?_

_And to all the children-Congradulations._


End file.
